Written Answers Friday 27 July 2007

Scottish Executive

Autism

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children with autism have been diagnosed as having Fragile X syndrome in each year since 1990.

Shona Robison: Children with autism spectrum disorder are most likely to be diagnosed in an outpatient clinic and managed in the community or general practice. Diagnostic information for patients attending outpatient clinics is not available centrally.

  On-going research in molecular genetics and development of the brain should help to establish the nature of the association between fragile X and autism. A SIGN guideline for assessment, diagnosis and clinical interventions for children and young people with autism spectrum disorder was recently published, which identifies and recommends areas for further research.

Dentistry

Gil Paterson (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde regarding the provision of dental services in West Dunbartonshire.

Shona Robison: Whilst there have been no specific discussions on the provision of dental services in West Dunbartonshire, officials meet with NHS boards on a regular basis to discuss the provision of NHS dental services in the respective board areas.

Dentistry

Gil Paterson (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde regarding the provision of dental services in East Dunbartonshire.

Shona Robison: Whilst there have been no specific discussions on the provision of dental services in East Dunbartonshire, officials meet with NHS boards on a regular basis to discuss the provision of NHS dental services in the respective board areas.

Dentistry

Gil Paterson (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists in West Dunbartonshire take on new patients.

Gil Paterson (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists in East Dunbartonshire take on new patients.

Shona Robison: This information is not held centrally.

  NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde may hold this information.

Drug Misuse

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether naltrexone implants are offered on the NHS for drug addicted people and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Shona Robison: Naltrexone implants are not licensed for use in the UK. However, naltrexone hydrochloride in tablet form is used in the treatment of formerly opioid-dependent patients.

  Medicines legislation allows for the use of unlicensed medicines if it is considered to be an appropriate treatment for an individual patient. In these circumstances the prescriber bears a greater degree of responsibility for the use of the medicine.

Efficient Government

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to pilot the development of a single public sector organisation to deliver all public services in (a) Orkney, (b) Shetland, (c) the Western Isles or (d) all of these islands and what democratic and accountability mechanisms will be used to govern any such organisation.

John Swinney: There are currently two projects on the islands being funded through the Efficiency and Reform Fund. They are Joint Working in Orkney and the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Integrated Service Delivery.

  The overall aim of the Orkney project is to improve the efficiency of public sector services in Orkney, in particular in the management and delivery of support services in the Orkney Islands Council, NHS Orkney and other partner agencies, by means of closer working and/or integration of selected services.

  The Western Isles Project - The Outer Hebrides Community Planning Partnership (OHCPP) wishes to maximise the positive impact of the SE agendas relating to Integrated Service Delivery and Efficient government through the development of a service delivery model and governance arrangements that will secure the future of locally delivered and accountable public services in the islands.

  The projects are both at the defining and scoping stage and will give us options for governance of a single public body which we will need to consider carefully before taking forward in line with our objective of smaller simpler government.

Emergency Services

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the recommended staffing level is for an accident and emergency ambulance.

Nicola Sturgeon: The policy is that an accident and emergency ambulance should be double crewed, with at least one crew member being a paramedic unless in exceptional circumstances, such as short notice sick absence or leave where cover cannot be secured.

General Practitioners

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many general practitioner vacancies there are in each NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: As independent contractors under the new General Medical Services contract, general practitioners are generally not employees of NHS boards so data on vacancies is not centrally held.

General Practitioners

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many doctors have been recruited from outwith Scotland to fill general practitioners vacancies in each of the last five years.

Nicola Sturgeon: The information available relates to general practitioners new to NHSScotland by country of qualification outwith Scotland. This is only available for the following years as follows:

  

Year
Number


2001-02
45


2002-03
55


2003-04
27


2004-05
44

General Practitioners

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been of recruitment from outwith Scotland to fill general practitioner vacancies in each of the last five years.

Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not centrally available. General practitioners are independent contractors and responsible for the recruitment of their own staff.

General Practitioners

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many general practitioners (a) are due to retire and (b) have indicated that they will take early retirement in the next five years.

Nicola Sturgeon: In estimating the rate of leavers in future years for general practitioners, planning assumptions are based on historical patterns of leaving. Based on these assumptions the following number of leavers are estimated:

  

Source of Demand Headcount
Leavers under age 60
Leavers aged 60 plus


2007-08
133
49


2008-09
137
46


2009-10
139
44


2010-11
142
38


2011-12
137
32



  There is no centrally held data from GPs on early retirement.

General Practitioners

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many places have been available on the general practitioner training scheme in each of the last 10 years.

Nicola Sturgeon: Prior to August 2007, training to be a general practitioner was either through the General Practice Vocational Training Scheme or through a self-construct approach. Both routes required a final year as a General Practice Registrar (GPR). From August 2007, the training programme comprises three years, the final year of which remains as a GPR. The number of places is therefore given for the final GPR year only. Prior to and including 2003-04 the number of GPR training places remained constant at 250. From 2004-05 to 2006-07 there were 280 places. In 2007-08 this has increased to 300 places.

General Practitioners

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many places are being made available this year and in the next five years to train general practitioners.

Nicola Sturgeon: From August 2007, the new General Practice training programme (under Modernising Medical Careers) will comprise 890 places – 290 in year 1, 300 in year 2 and 300 in year three (the GPR year). As part of workforce planning arrangements, the number of training places is reviewed and set annually.

General Practitioners

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many general practitioners will have to be recruited in the next five years in order to implement the recommendations of the Kerr report.

Nicola Sturgeon: The annual workforce planning process, which is informed by local and national input, takes account, on an iterative basis, of any anticipated future changes to the workforce in NHSScotland. Work on implementation of the Kerr report is ongoing and includes consideration of the whole healthcare team and the changing roles required.

General Practitioners

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to support general practitioners who have been unable to find general practitioners training posts on the self-constructed training programme.

Nicola Sturgeon: If there are any trainee doctors in Scotland who have been unable to secure a place on the general practitioner training programme, career advice will be provided by their general practitioner director of education.

Housing

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ask Glasgow Housing Association to make the stock condition report by FPD Savills available to the Parliament and the wider public.

Stewart Maxwell: The FPD Savills valuation of the housing stock and related assets transferred to Glasgow Housing Association was released in May 2006 by the Scottish Government, following a request under the Freedom of Information legislation. It is available on request through the Communities Scotland website at: http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/cs_008357.hcsp and I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 43163).

Justice

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how long it takes to analyse a DNA profile to identify an individual.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked David Mulhern, Chief Executive of the Scottish Police Services Authority, to respond. His response is as follows:

  The length of time taken to analyse a sample will vary according to the quality of the sample and the circumstances in which it was obtained. After a sample has been analysed and a DNA profile developed from it, the process of identifying whether that DNA profile matches a DNA profile that is already on the database is almost instantaneous.

Memorials and Commemorations

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been provided for commemorative purposes, such as medals and plaques, in each year since 1999, giving the reason for each commemoration.

Stewart Maxwell: Veteran’s issues such as commemorative events are a reserved matter for the Westminster government and to the Ministry of Defence, including the striking and awarding of military campaign medals which is in the preserve of Her Majesty The Queen. Scottish Ministers however are open to consider formal applications for funding from groups and organisations on a case-by-case basis.

  Between 1999-2000 and 2001-02 our records show that the Government received no formal applications for funding for either war memorials or commemorations. In 2002-03 an application for funding for a war memorial from the Normandy Veteran’s Association was received but was declined. In 2003-04 the Executive received no formal applications for funding.

  In 2004-05 the Government received two applications for funding. The McCrae’s Battalion Trust received a contribution of £5,000 for the Great Hearts War Memorial at Contalmaison in Northern France, and the 51st Highland Division Veterans Pilgrimage Association received £1,000 towards the erection of their memorial in Normandy.

  In 2005-06 the Government provided funding totalling £34,168.10 to Veterans Scotland for a series of commemorative celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. In 2006-07 the Government contributed £9,910.93 to the Dundee Combined Ex-Services Association for the inaugural National Veterans Day commemorations and this year has made up to £5,000 available to the Association.

  In addition, in 2007-08 the Government’s European Office agreed to a contribution of £5,000 towards the commemorative events to take place in Zonnebeke, Belgium in August this year to mark the contribution of Scottish soldiers during the First World War.

  In addition, as part of their regular programme of repair and maintenance of historic monuments, Historic Scotland have carried out works and repairs during this period to the Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle and to the Argyll and Sutherland Memorial at Stirling Castle totalling approximately £70,000.

Memorials and Commemorations

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is available for commemorative purposes.

Stewart Maxwell: Veterans’ issues, including commemorative events and paying for memorials, are a reserved matter for the Westminster Government and the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence. Consequently the Scottish Government has no dedicated budget for commemorative events or memorials. However, all requests for funding are considered on their own merits and in recent years the Scottish Government has made significant contributions to events commemorating Scottish veterans, including National Veterans Day and the commemoration of the 60 th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Registrar General for Scotland

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Registrar General will publish his annual report for 2006.

Jim Mather: Scotland’s Population 2006: the Registrar General’s Annual Review of Demographic Trends is published today. The Report contains information about births, deaths and marriages during the year, together with other demographic information. A copy of the report is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 43115), or from the Registrar General’s website at: www.gro-scotland.gov.uk .

Rural Affairs

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its news release on 19 June 2007, entitled "Keeping it simple in the countryside", how a single body can be created without legislative change when existing legislation stipulates the existence of separate bodies.

Michael Russell: The delivery organisations have been asked to develop proposals for a single environmental and rural service which results in a customer experience that feels like interaction with a single body, removing confusion and any duplication. Legislation stipulates the existence of separate bodies but does not generally stipulate the manner in which local delivery is organised.

Student Finance

Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to provide additional financial support to part-time students and, if so, how much.

Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it intends to take to address any price disincentive for students undertaking part-time education.

Fiona Hyslop: Learner support for students undertaking part-time study in higher education is currently under review. The review process will include an appraisal of options for providing improved support for part-time students. We will publish our findings and announce future plans for learner support for part-time students once the review and decision-making process has been completed. Any change to existing learner support arrangements for part-time study will be subject to spending review considerations.

Student Loans Company

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has received from the Student Loans Company since 2005 as repayment of graduate endowments, including those where students have opted to add the endowment to their student loans.

Fiona Hyslop: The total amount received by the Scottish Executive from the Student Loans Company was £10,000 during the 2005-06 financial year and £47,000 during the 2006-07 financial year.

Wildlife

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action Forestry Commission Scotland and Forest Enterprise are taking to protect forests from squirrelpox-infected grey squirrels.

Mr Michael Russell: Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) and its agency Forest Enterprise Scotland are helping SNH and the Red Squirrels South Scotland project to develop and implement a response plan. FCS is helping to monitor the incidence of squirrelpox virus in the populations of grey and red squirrels in the affected area, and it has trained the project trappers and some private estate trappers to enable them to carry out grey squirrel control.

  FCS and the Executive’s Rural Directorate have also proposed measures under the Scottish Rural Development Plan for new targeted grants for grey squirrel control to help red squirrel conservation.